Senator Iván Cepeda denounces former president Duque for alleged purchase of Pegasus

Colombian Senator Iván Cepeda, from the ruling Historic Pact, denounced former President Iván Duque before the House of Representatives for alleged crimes related to the alleged illegal purchase of Pegasus spyware and irregular transfers of funds.

(Read here: DNI Director on Pegasus purchase: allegedly it was with illicit funds)
Cepeda, an ally of President Gustavo Petro, filed a complaint with the House Investigation and Accusation Committee, his office said in a statement.

The senator indicated that the Duque Government (2018-2022) supposedly acquired the software “after secret meetings in Israel in 2021” While the country was going through “highly sensitive circumstances (…) with an unprecedented social outbreak.”

According to Cepeda, Duque “He would have incurred in money laundering, illegal violation of communications, offering, selling or buying an instrument suitable for intercepting private communication between people, embezzlement by different official application, violation of the legal or constitutional regime of disqualifications and incompatibilities, abuse of authority by arbitrary and unjust act, conspiracy to commit a crime,” inter alia.

(See here: Nine out of 10 Colombians seek equality and freedom in their emotional relationships)

He also indicated that during the Duque Administration he already denounced “several episodes of espionage that revealed the serious situation of abuse of power and violation of rights in the political sphere.”

For all this, he considered “It is essential to investigate whether the former president allowed the use of this software to intercept private communications in Colombia, without the proper legal controls.”

“In addition, the complaint requests verification of possible abuses of authority, misappropriation of funds and human rights violations, which could imply criminal liability for the former president,” said in the statement.

The alleged purchase of Pegasus was denounced this month by Petro, who indicated that the acquisition was made by the police intelligence agency and was paid in cash to an Israeli company.

Money, according to Petro, “was transported by air from Bogotá to Tel Aviv on June 27, 2021,” where it was declared to customs and deposited into the company’s account.

(Continue here: The Prosecutor’s Office’s guidelines for investigating crimes committed during the 2021 strike)

In this context, Petro ordered the director of the Police, General William René Salamanca, find the software and hand it over, along with the information gathered, to the Prosecutor’s Office so they can conduct the investigation.

However, various authorities of the current Government and former officials of Duque have denied that the Pegasus, the subject of controversy due to its use, has been acquired. to spy on opponents in several countries, or they claim that there is no evidence of the alleged acquisition.

Pegasus software, created by Israeli company NSO Group Technologies Ltd., is capable of facilitating wiretapping, email spying and text communications through applications such as WhatsApp, and the scanning of documents contained in the memory of mobile phones.

EFE